Prima Facie
by RedScarfedSoldier
Summary: Rivamika Week - Day 2 - Gladioli - 'Love' at First Sight - Developing one-sided, immediate appreciation that goes unnoticed/unreciprocated until much later on.


A/N: This felt really easy to write, so I hope that isn't a sign that it's bad, haha. Slightly based off my headcanon that Mikasa cares a lot more about Levi than she shows, and that she's been observing him since their first encounter to try and figure out how he's so strong, and also the manga panels that show her holding her blades like him.

* * *

She was strong, but he was stronger. She was fast, but he was faster. She was smart, but he was smarter. And even though she was the one worth a hundred soldiers, he was the one worth an entire brigade.

That's how it had always been, and how it always would be. And at first, she hated him for it. She hated being second, hated that he was the one who got to protect Eren, and not her. Hated how he always pointed out her mistakes and flaws.

But most of all, she hated herself.

She hated herself because she knew it wasn't his fault he was stronger than her, it was hers, hated herself because her recklessness had resulted in his injury, and hated herself for falling under whatever cruel spell he had put on her to make her feel this way.

It wasn't love, it definitely wasn't love. She could hardly even consider him a friend, so it couldn't be love. It wasn't respect, for she felt respect towards all of her comrades, but it didn't make her feel like this. It didn't make her gaze wander to them whenever they entered the room, it didn't make her carefully observe their most basic actions as if they held the secret to all the world's darkest mysteries.

It was on a crisp winter evening, as she sat alone in the kitchen with nothing but her own thoughts and a cup of tea, that she had decided it was something akin to appreciation, or perhaps even admiration.

It had all begun in that moment, she had concluded. That moment when he, though she hated to admit or even think about it, had saved both her and Eren from the Female Titan in the Forest of Giant Trees.

As she watched him slice away at her, seemingly effortlessly gliding through the air, blades drawn and completely immobilizing her with his sheer strength and speed, too fast for her to even harden her flesh. She would never admit it, but it had impressed her.  
But what had impressed her more was the way he risked his life to protect her, someone he didn't even know, and had been injured in the process, all because of her impulsive actions.

From that mission onwards, she had found herself observing him. Observing the way he fought, the way he acted towards others, the way he silently mourned the loss of his squad, to the way he executed even the simplest of tasks, giving even the pot of hot water that brewed his favorite tea, black tea, she had observed, his undivided attention.

And she would never tell him, or anyone else for that matter, but in her heart she could never take full credit for stopping Annie's ascent, for it was the vision of how he defeated her, by focusing on the speed of the attack and slicing through the titan's skin before it had the chance to harden, instead of focusing on the strength, that had enabled her to slice off all of its fingers before the crystal ice spread.

Yes, she admired him, but admiration didn't mean trust. She wasn't a fool, and in a world this cruel, she wasn't one to trust people easily.

But as time went on, she knew there was no longer a reason for her to hold back her trust in him, especially after she had been placed in his squad.

As they went about their daily lives, she had noticed herself picking up some of his habits. Or rather, Eren and the rest of the squad had noticed, and often teased her about it. She found herself being more concerned with cleanliness, more aware of a spoon left on the counter here, a piece of lint on the floor there. She sometimes found herself awake at late hours of the night, heading to the kitchen for a cup of tea when she would previously just lie awake in bed until she saw the smallest hint of sunlight through her bedroom window, and when she did she often found him already there. They rarely spoke, instead just silently acknowledged each other's company. Sometimes, she even found herself silently accompanying him on a morning jog.

They were outside the walls on a mission one day when he had approached her, pointing to her blades.

''When did you start holding your blades like that?'' He questioned in a tone that almost made him sound genuinely curious, but she could almost hear the smirk that graced his lips.

''As long as it gets the job done, I don't think it matters how I choose to hold my weapon, _sir_.''

''It does when you could get hurt.'' She watched him pause to inspect her grip. She knew he would catch on eventually, nobody else held their swords like he did. Up until now, at least. She had noticed the way he changed his hold on his blades in the middle of a fight a few times, noticed how fast he spun himself towards the necks of titans, and decided she would continue to observe him carefully until she figured out how to do it herself, and after weeks of observing him and practicing in private, she had finally figured it out.

''Not bad… But it takes a lot of practice. When we get back, train with me. That's an order, not a suggestion.'' He stated before walking away from her and back to his horse.

Soon after they had returned home, she came to learn that when he ordered her to train with him, he didn't just mean with her blades. They spent the majority of their days together now, the ever-growing competition between them being the perfect motivation to make them both train harder.

Until that one fateful day, a day that started off like all the rest. She woke up, showered, got dressed in her training clothes and headed outside where she joined him for their regular warm ups, and they got straight into sparring. It was going well, she had thought. She managed to dodge every attack he sent her way so far, and almost landed a hit on him, but then, she had to stumble, letting her guard down just long enough for him to get her to the ground and pin her there.

She stared up at him intently, waiting for him to stand up and call her out on her mistake, but he didn't. She noticed something change in his eyes, and her heart raced. _It's just admiration._

As if only just realizing their position, he lifted himself and stood up, grabbing his water bottle and towel and leaving abruptly, without so much as a word to her.

The next few weeks, they hardly spoke to each other, save for necessary orders and short discussions of battle tactics. She found herself missing their talks, missing his touch whenever he would correct her form or land a hit on her, she even found herself missing his sarcasm and all of his little quirks she previously found annoying. But despite their growing distance from each other, she still found herself staring.

She would watch him as he tended to the horses, as he trained, alone now, and as he sat in the kitchen where they had silently drank tea together only a few months ago. As the days went on, she found it harder and harder to hide the glances she stole of him throughout the day. What she didn't know, however, was that he was aware of them from the very beginning.

One night after dinner, she excused herself for bed, and he had followed, determined to find out the reason behind why he could constantly feel her eyes on him.

As she reached for the doorknob of her room, she felt a strong hand grab her opposite wrist, and the next thing she knew, she was pinned against the wall.

''Ackerman, do you mind telling me why the_ fuck_ you keep staring at me?''

As she looked at the man in front of her, her mind flashed back to the incident on the training grounds, and she was overwhelmed by a foreign feeling. The urge to kiss him flowed throughout her, and her breathing quickened.

''Well?'' He urged.

She took a deep breath, reaching forward, she grabbed his cravat and pulled him towards her, crashing her lips against his. Their lips moved hungrily against one another as they melted under each other's kiss.

_Maybe it was love._

She pulled her lips away from his, gasping for air as they rested their foreheads together.

''Don't you ever run away again.'' She whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for another kiss.

'' And that's an order, not a suggestion.''


End file.
